From what i understand Deathknights get their frost powers from the runes on their Runeblade. And same with shadow powers but the way they raise ghouls and spread disease does that come from the blade also?
Yes. I’m pretty sure reading that a DK without their runeblade is pretty much powerless. On the phone ar work rn though, so no sources.
How their powers work isn’t fully explained. The runeblade is centric, but it’s a bit nebulous when it comes to the why’s and how’s. There are instructors in Acherus which teach all three schools, so, there’s that.
While their runeblades are important to the vast majority of their abilities, they’re not powerless without them. They’ve got inherent unholy-enhanced strength, and they do have some magical abilities - back in the DK intro quest we see Koltira pop up a defensive bubble when he was shirtless and unarmed.
Their presences were things they could swap between as well, indicating they can channel some of the B/F/U stuff even without runes backing them up.
But most of their powers do still need runes.
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In the older lore, death knights were bound to a runeblade, to the point that it was said multiple times that it is through the runeblade that they command great amounts of magic.
The single most important piece of equipment to a death knight is the runeblade. It is through the runeblade that a death knight commands the powers of frost, blood and the unholy. The runeblade also acts as a vessel to store the death knight’s runic power.
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/The_Emblazoned_Runeblade#Progress
However, we have some evidence that this isn’t the sole magic they are capable of - Elenthas above quoted several examples of death knights being capable of using magic without their runeblade. It is likely that death knights themselves are still imbued with death magic, and can therefore use decent amounts of magic even without the runeblade.
Still, it should also be stated that a runeblade is, and remains, a death knight’s greatest weapon and source of power:
Without your hand to guide it, your runeblade is but a hollow shell. Separate, you are both broken entities; weak and powerless. Should you ever find yourself without possession of a runeblade, know then that your only task should be the acquisition of another with all due haste.
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/This_is_my_Runeblade...
Always from the same book:
1.) United, your runeblade becomes an extension of your very body. And your body belongs to the Lich King.
2.) As one, your runeblade becomes your will manifest in physical form. And your will is that of the Lich King.
3.) Together, your runeblade becomes the vein through which death itself is delivered to your soul. And your soul shall deliver the will of the Lich King.
The runeblade is still intended as the major source of power for a death knight, where they draw their main powers from. Still, it doesn’t mean that they can’t have access to other forms of magic without it, and we know death magic courses inside their veins as they are empowered with great amounts of unholy magic. Arthas himself sometimes left his blade in the Halls of Reflection and likely still held great magic power.
edit.
Still, if you were to search for something tangible to RP, I would recommend playing around the runeblades - finding materials for a powerful weapon and then inscribing upon it runes of power which, according to some sources, might even have to be replenished over time, which is hinted in the Koltira’s quest the language of death.
Byfrost thirsts for the blood of the Lich King and his minions, but first I must etch upon it runes of death: symbols of frost, blood, and shadow. Bring me suitable sources of power and I will translate your tome.[…] The blood of innocents was once used to sate the thirst of the blade. Alas, such options are no longer available to me.
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Koltira_and_the_Language_of_Death
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I’ve nothing really to add to what Elenthas and Zaphius said about the Runeblade. It’s as succinct as it gets!
For RP purposes I like to differentiate between internal and external power.
We know from the Chronicles that Necromancy (as a force, not as a practice) permeates all of reality, just as Spirit does. Based on this and some other tidbits of lore I’ve pieced together a bit of a headcanon that goes a little more in depth on the logistics of a Death Knight’s powers.
The long and short of it is that necromantic power seeps into physical reality through the Veil from the Shadowlands and in contact with Spirit creates Decay.
Decay in its raw, uncontrolled form just accelerates decomposition.
It takes necromantic runes and incantations to supplement the energy outside one’s body with syntax, in order to effectively shape Decay into plagues and diseases, concentrate enough power to transform minions, snuff out the warmth of life and convert an enemy’s life essence into juice the Death Knight can sap.
Everything else I take as being an “expansion” or “protrusion” of a Death Knight’s innate powers, such as the Death Grip.
This is all up for interpretation, of course! It also changes nothing about the general effects of the magic itself, but I do enjoy exploring the logistics 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dfmpBv_iHn64oqVBKzIosh-CEGnddEPuytwVIlufduI/edit?usp=sharing
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